


Bets

by Hiro the Halfling (CrzyFun)



Series: Seven [1]
Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 16:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3388817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrzyFun/pseuds/Hiro%20the%20Halfling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Deep within the alley's of San Fransokyo's less populated areas, a crowd of monsters and demons cheer on a pair of fighting robots.</p>
<p>A reworking of the bot fighting scene for my Halfling Hiro AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bets

The city of San Fransokyo was alive with activity. People and cars traveled the streets in the more populated areas of the city, unencumbered by the night. However, in the less populated area, in the run-down portion of the city where "upstanding citizens" wouldn't dare tread during the dark of night, the only signs of life that could be found were the rumblings of robotic fighters clashing in the middle of a cheering crowd.

On one side of the ring, controlling the pink clawed robot, sat a beautiful woman with vibrant pink hair and an edgy wardrobe. A pair of goat horns poked out of the fuchsia locks just behind the goggles perched on her head, while a pair of bat-like wings poked out the back of her torn, mesh shirt. The succubus's whip like tail waved behind her as her robot lashed out at her opponent's black one. Said opponent was large, both in height and width. He had the appearance of a man, but his skin was a blood-red and a pair of nub horns sprouted from his temples. A pair of thick tusks hung in the place of canines in his mouth, making the oni look even more intimidating.

The succubus smirked as her robot finally seemed to gain the upper hand. Yet when it moved in to end the match, the sides of the oni's bot's shield slid aside to reveal a saw. The black bot quickly sliced through the pink, ending the match.

In the crowd, monsters, demons, and all sorts of creatures humans warn their children about cheered or booed as money swapped hands. A jorōgumo moved through the crowd, a pot in one hand.

"The winner, by total annihilation, Yama!" the spider-woman called out, opening the pot and presenting it to the oni.

He laughed and collected his winnings, calling out, "Who's next? Who has the guts to step into the ring with Little Yama?"

The crowd immediately quieted down. Nearby bot fighters quickly hid their robots, one even going so far as ripping the head off his robot.

"Can I try?" a small voice called out from the hushed crowd.

The crowd parted to reveal a small boy in his early teens. He had fluffy black hair that stuck up everywhere while still managing to hang in front of the dark sunglasses he wore. When he smiled, he showed off the gap between his upper front teeth, which was only made more obvious by the small fangs that hung in his mouth. In his hands, he held a small robot.

He held it out for the crowd, and Yama, to see. "I have a robot! I built it myself."

It was small, there were no weapons, nothing to fight with, and the "head" even had a yellow happy face.

Yama laughed at the pathetic robot, the crowd quickly joining in. The newcomer frowned and pulled into himself.

"Beat it kid," the jorōgumo chuckled with a tilt of her head before getting serious. "House rules, you got to pay to play."

"Oh," the boy said, innocently. He dug into this pants pocket and pulled out a handful of crumpled bills. "Is this enough?"

Yama glanced down at the boy. He was young, his skin too flushed to be much older than his physical age would lead you to believe. Compared to Yama, who was over a century old, he was nothing more than an infant. "What's your name, little boy?" the oni asked, smirking down at the young vampire.

"Hiro, Hiro Hamada," the boy said, smiling up at the larger Otherworlder.

"Prepare your bot, Zero!"

Both fighters dropped their money into the jorōgumo's pot before taking their seats on either side of the ring. Little Yama stood tall and powerful over the little robot that sat limply in front of Hiro.

The spider-woman acted as referee as she placed a parasol between the two fighters. She spun it slowly as she said, "Two bots enter, one bot leaves. Fighters ready? FIGHT!"

Little Yama made quick work of Hiro's bot, tossing it up in the air before slicing through it's joints. The little robot fell to the ground in three matching pieces.

Yama laughed as Hiro lunged forwards towards his robot's remains.

"That was my first fight. I- C-can I try again?"

"No one likes a sore loser, little boy. Go home."

"I've got more money."

Yama smirked. He was always game for easy money.

Hiro pulled his hand from his pocket and opened it to reveal three white coins.

"Where'd you get those, little boy?" Yama asked, eyeing the eternal koban. They were real. Yama would know counterfeit eternal koban like the back of his hand. He used to be in the business a few decades back, afterall.

"My master gave them to me as payment," Hiro said, ducking his head.

Yama eyed the boy. Eternal koban were hard to find, at least in the darker parts of the Otherworld, and it  _was_  easy money, but he couldn't just bet human money against eternal koban.

Making up his mind, Yama reached into his pocket and pulled out a crystal that shimmered with yellow light. It was a simple little soul that he'd won off some idiot human. Well, perhaps "won" wasn't the right word. There had been quite a bit of cheating on his part.

"Alright, little boy, you can have another shot at losing," Yama said.

The spider-woman held out her pot and Yama added the soul as Hiro added his koban. The two got back into position and she held out the parasol once more. "Fighters ready? FIGHT!" the jorōgumo called once more.

Little Yama was ready, saw buzzing the moment the parasol was lifted.

With a flick of Hiro's fingers, his robot was reassembled and standing before him. "Megabot," Hiro called, the naive, innocent tone falling away from his voice. His lips curled up in a wicked smirk. "Destroy." Hiro gave his remote a tug and it expanded to twice its length. The yellow face on the little robot, Megabot, twirled away and was replaced by a red one with a glaring smirk to match Hiro's.

The bot moved swiftly around the ring, easily dodging Little Yama's attacks. While Yama began to look shocked and worried, Hiro's smirk fell into a bored expression. Megabot moved around the larger bot before climbing up it. It first disconnected one arm, then used it to knock off the other. After, it encircled the larger robot's head like a boa constrictor, tightening until the head popped off like a bottle cap.

Megabot landed in front of Hiro. It's face returned to a cheerful yellow and it gave a bow.

"No more Little Yama," Hiro said, reaching into the shocked jorōgumo's pot.

"But, wha- This is not possible!" Yama shouted looking back and forth between his robot's head and the young vampire.

"Hey, I-I'm as surprised as you are," Hiro said, shoving the cash, Koban, and soul into his pockets and not paying attention to what was going on around him. "Beginner's luck. Do - Do you want to go again, Yama?" Hiro's voice cut up to a squeak as he looked up to see the massive oni standing over him.

Yama grabbed Hiro and dragged him off to a separate alley before tossing him against a wall. The two were followed by three men, all displaying generic gangster clothing and the pure black eyes of the possessed.

"No one hustles Yama," the oni shouted grabbing Megabot away from Hiro.

"Woah, hey," Hiro said.

"Teach him a lesson," Yama said to the men. "But first, get back my soul."

"Soul? I don't have your soul. I didn't even think oni's had souls," Hiro joked, his eyes darting between the men.

Yama glared down at the boy. "The soul you stole from me."

"I won that fair and square."

"You hustled me!"

"You underestimated me, that's your fault. Not like I used magic to, oh I don't know, give you bad luck.  _That_  would be stealing."

Yama's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, that's right! You were the one that pulled that trick, didn't you! Well, I suppose that soul wasn't yours to bet in the first place. I guess we're even then. I hustled you; you cheated me. So if you'd just let me passed, I can get out of your hair and on my way. Don't worry about the soul, I'll be sure to get it back to its proper owner." Hiro tried to step passed one of the goons.

Said goon grabbed his shoulder and shoved him back to the wall. It then growled down at Hiro. Literally.

Hiro rolled his eyes. Inugami. Figures.

"How did you -" Yama started, before he caught sight of something.

Hiro's smirk had pulled up his lips enough to show the edge on his fake fangs.

"Halfling!" Yama growled.

The goons only had a second to absorb what their master had said before Hiro's arm shot forward towards the stomach of the goon who had shoved him. The goon shuffled back, giving the others and Yama a clear view of the silver-white, feather-shaped kunai Hiro had stabbed the possessed man with. A moment later, the kunai burst in a bright flash of light.

The man fell to the ground, unconscious but unharmed, while a black mist was expelled from his body. The mist collected to form the vague shape of a dog with pure white eyes.

The two other possessed men growled and jumped at Hiro.

The halfling brought up his arms and a barrier of silver-white light formed in front of the halfling, shielding him from the men. Hiro thrust out his arms and the barrier moved forwards, knocking back Yama, the men, and the loose inugami.

Growling, the oni shoved his men off. He glared up at Hiro just in time to see the light of the barrier collapse and reform behind Hiro in the shape of small wings hovering near Hiro's shoulder blades.

As Yama began to get to his feet, a different light flooded the alleyway. In the new light, everything seemed different. The two men's eyes looked normal, Yama appeared human (a human that wouldn't seem out of place in a dohyō, but a human none the less), and the inugami disappeared completely. Hiro's wings disappeared and he brought his hand up, using the excuse of blocking the light from his eyes to remove the fake fangs.

The light was revealed to be the headlight of a moped when the vehicle sped into the alley, nearly running over the men.

"Hiro, get on," the moped's rider called out. He was a young man with eyes that matched Hiro's.

"Tadashi!" Hiro called out to his brother as he ran forward. "Ah, good timing!" He jumped onto the back of the moped and Tadashi slapped a helmet onto his head before taking off.

After adjusting the helmet, Hiro pulled out Megabot's remote. With a few flicked key's, the little robot was slipping out of Yama's grasp and following Hiro and Tadashi. As soon as it was close enough, it jumped into Hiro's hand and the boy pocketed it and the remote.

"You okay?" Tadashi asked as he sped around a corner.

"Yeah," Hiro replied, watching their backs.

"Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Then what were you thinking?" Tadashi huffed, accentuating each word with a light punch to whatever part of Hiro his fist could make contact with. He finished it off with an elbow to Hiro's shin and "Knucklehead!"

They came to a dead end, but Tadashi barely gave it a thought as he cut a quick u-turn.

"You graduated high school when you were thirteen and  _this_  is what you're doing?"

A shout came from in front of them and both Hamada's eyes widened as the saw Yama and his crew running towards them.

Tadashi glanced around until his eyes landed on a pile of boxes and wood that formed a makeshift ramp. "Hold on!" He jerked the moped to the side and shot up the ramp and into the air.

"Woo hoo hoo, yes!" Hiro called out, exhilarated by the chase. He brought up his foot and slammed it into the face of the free inugami that had made to attack Hiro, knocking it away and into ground where it remained, unconscious.

"Bot fighting is illegal. You're gonna get yourself arrested," Tadashi reprimanded, returning to his interrupted lecture.

"Bot fighting is  _not_  illegal," Hiro corrected, rolling his eyes. "Betting on bot fighting, that's - that's illegal. But so lucrative!" The younger brother contemplated pulling out the cash he had won to demonstrate just how lucrative, but decided not to risk the koban or soul falling out of his pocket.

It turned out to be for the best because seconds later, right after announcing to the world that he was on a roll and that there was no one stopping him, the moped had come to an abrupt stop as no less than three cop cars pulled up in front of the end of the ally the brothers were just about to exit.

"Oh no," Tadashi muttered.

The police officers spilled out. One of the officers from the car closest to the brothers sent the others on ahead before turning to Tadashi and Hiro. "Alright you two, you're going to have to come with us," he said.

Before either Hamada could do anything, the officer's partner spoke up. "Come on, they're just a couple of kids."

"Kids," both brothers said, faces screwing up identically.

"Kids that were pulling out of an alley near where an illegal bot fight was going down."

"I'm twenty-one. I'm not a kid," Tadashi huffed under his breath at the same time that Hiro muttered, "I graduated high school. I'm not a kid."

"They're probably on their way home," the partner said. She turned to Hiro and Tadashi and asked, "Aren't you, boys?"

"Yes, ma'am, officer," Hiro said, with a gap-toothed, puppy-dog smile.

"See, " the female officer said, turning back to her partner as Tadashi gave Hiro a glare that somehow managed to say "Be quiet" and "Don't lie to the police" at the same time.

"We have to at least search them," the male officer stated.

"Fine, I'll take the little one and you take the big one," the female allowed, moving towards the brothers.

The two were separated and while the male officer searched Tadashi and the moped for signs of bot fighting or betting, the female moved Hiro off to the side, placing herself between their line of sight and Hiro.

"Alright, hand it over," she said, holding out her hand.

Hiro bit his lip before sighing. Knowing it would be better to get it over with, he withdrew Megabot from his pocket.

"Not that, Psycho," the officer hissed quietly.

Hiro's glanced up at the officer's face in shock and his eyes met pale pink one's. He groaned and shoved Megabot back into his pocket. "Can I get a little warning next time, Nuri?"

"'Warning,' he says. Do you know how difficult this is? Angel's aren't creatures that can possess people willy-nilly, you know. You're lucky this is one of the times it's allowed. However, it has a time limit, so hand it over now or I'll let you go to jail."

Hiro rolled his eyes and pulled out the yellow glowing crystal. The possessed woman took it from him and looked it over.

"You didn't break it," she said quietly.

Hiro narrowed his eyes at the surprise in her voice. "I've never broken a soul."

"I know, it still surprises me everytime."

"Are we done here?" the genius growled, crossing his arms.

The woman's fist closed around the crystal and she blinked.

Green eyes glanced down at the boy before stepping to the side. "Yeah, we're done. He's clean," she said, the last part called out to her partner.

"So's he," the male officer said, stepping away from Tadashi. "Guess you were right, Amilia. Sorry to trouble you boys. Better run along now."

"Yes, sir," Hiro said, saluting the man as he moved past the female officer and jumped on the moped.

Tadashi got on at a slower pace and drove off, but stopped after only a block, he turned to his brother with a raised eyebrow.

Already knowing what his brother was thinking, Hiro said, "She let me go with a warning since I'm a 'little kid.' She said I won't get off so easy next time."

"You should take her advice," Tadashi said, turning back to the road and taking off. "You nearly got us  _both_  arrested tonight. Just think how Aunt Cass would have reacted if she had gotten a call from the police station."

Hiro shivered and rubbed his ear. There were two types of pain Aunt Cass could inflict on one's ear, and Hiro had a feeling she would unleash both on the boys if she ever found out they had nearly gotten arrested, let alone  _actually_  arrested.

"You're not going to tell her, are you?"

Hiro felt Tadashi shiver and he knew his brother had followed his train of thought. "No, but you owe me.  _No more bot fighting_."

"For sure," Hiro said, rolling his eyes.

"And I hope you learned your lesson."

"Absolutely."

…

"You're planning on going bot fighting again, aren't you?"

"Tadashi -"

"When are you going to start doing something with that big brain of yours?"

"What? Go to college like you? So people can tell me stuff I already know?"

"Unbelievable," Tadashi sighed. "Oh, what would mom and dad say?"

Hiro felt his stomach twist. He hated it when Tadashi brought them up. "I don't know. They're - They're gone. They died when I was three, remember?"  _Remember? Because you can. You got ten years with them. You_ can _remember them!_

Hiro loved Aunt Cass. For all intents and purposes, she was his mother. It wasn't quite the same, though, and Tadashi always seemed to remind him about that.

In front of Hiro, Tadashi frowned. He didn't mean to remind his brother about their parents; he knew how it made Hiro feel. He just - Hiro needed to realize - He needed to see -

SEE! That's it!

Tadashi turned left at the next street.

"Home's that way, ani," Hiro said, shoving his brother's shoulder before gesturing towards the direction they had been heading originally. He frowned when the turned up the driveway to the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. "What are we doing at your nerd school?"

Tadashi parked the moped in front of a building, the Ito Ishioka Robotics Lab if the sign out front was anything to go by, and pulled off his helmet. "Gotta grab something," he said, setting his helmet on the handlebars and walking away.

Hiro stared after his brother for a moment before groaning and following. He hoped this wasn't going to take long.

**Author's Note:**

> Succubus (the pink haired bot fighting girl): a female demon or supernatural entity in folklore. Most well known for seducing people and stealing their life-energy (usually through sexual activity).
> 
> Oni (Yama): a kind of yōkai from Japanese folklore, variously translated as demons, devils, ogres or trolls.
> 
> Jorōgumo (the bot fight referee): a type of Yōkai, a creature, ghost or goblin of Japanese folklore. According to some stories, a Jorōgumo is a spider that can change its appearance into that of a seductive woman.
> 
> Otherworlder: those that exist in the Otherworld, the realm of monsters and magic that exists parallel to Zera (the human plane). BTW, Hiro’s not an Otherworlder, but he made them think he was by disguising himself as a vampire.
> 
> Eternal koban: one of the different currency units used solely in the Otherworld (similar to the golden drachmas used in the Percy Jackson series). Based on the Japanese koban, it’s primarily used in the Japanese lines of Otherworlders and therefore holds more weight for them, but also can be hard to come by in more diverse circles.
> 
> Inugami (Yama’s goons are possessed by them): a kind of familiar, or spirit of possession. They are the spirits of mistreated dogs brought back by dark magic.
> 
> Halfling (Hiro): the children of humans and beyonders (those that exist in the realms beyond Earth aka Zera and the Otherworld). The term is usually used for the children of angels and humans. Halflings are basically the police of the Otherworld.
> 
> Dohyō: the ring in which sumo wrestling bouts are held.
> 
> Angels (Nuri): A type of Beyonder. They reside in the realm of Heaven. They are limited in what the can do on Earth because of their laws, so they use the halflings to complete the work they need done.
> 
>  
> 
> [More info can be found on my tumblr page for this AU.](http://hiro-the-halfling.tumblr.com/)


End file.
